Patent GB-1043909-A (GB)
Title: Conveyor means
IPC: B27L5/00
Filed: 1964-11-23
Abstract: 1,043,909. Endless conveyers. RAUMA REPOLA OY. Nov. 23, 1964 [Nov. 21, 1963], No. 47606/64. Heading B8A. [Also in Division B5] A conveyer for straightening and transporting sheets of veneer from a lathe 2 to a drying-machine comprises a first part 4 consisting of endless belts 7 arranged at an ascending slope and adapted to be driven at a higher speed than the speed of travel of the sheets through the drying machine and rollers 9 the circumferences of which can be raised or lowered to be above or below the belts, and a second part 5 consisting of a similar arrangement of belts 17 and rollers 19 arranged at a descending slope, the second part having a number of feelers 23 for detecting veneer thereon and operating mechanism to position the rollers to be down on the ascending part and up on the descending part if veneer is not present at any of the feelers, but up on the ascending part and down on the descending part if veneer is present at all the feelers. The veneer sheets are cut by a lathe 2 from a log 1 and are passed by a roller board 3, which may include means for storing the cut veneer, to the conveyer part 4 which has a plurality of belts 7 entrained about portions of a pulley on a shaft 13, further portions of the pulley receiving the belts 17 of the conveyer part 5. One of the portions of the pulley may be secured to the shaft 13, the other being rotatable relative thereto to permit the conveyer part 4 to operate at a faster speed than the part 5 which operates at the same speed as the drier. The rollers 9, 19 are mounted at the sides of the belts on rails 8, 18 supported by links 10, 20 which can be rotated by arms 12, 22 to raise and lower the rollers so that parts of their circumferences are above or below the belts. The positions of the rollers are determined by sensing means 23 which may have mechanical feelers, air jets or photo-electric means responsive to the presence of a veneer sheet on the conveyer part 5. In operation, when veneer sheet is on the conveyer part 5 and passing to a conveyer 6 leading to the drier, and is present at all the sensing means 23, the rollers 19 on the conveyer part 5 are down, while those 9 on the conveyer part 4 are up, so that the belts 17 moving at the drier speed feed the sheets to the drier, the rollers 9 preventing further sheets being fed from the lathe. When the sheet on the conveyer part 5 has left a sensing means 23 but is still being moved by the conveyer 6, the position of the rollers is reversed so that a sheet is fed by the conveyer part 4, the faster speed of the latter moving the sheet faster than the first sheet until all the sensing means detect the presence of a sheet and the gap between the sheets is small, whereupon the rollers are again reversed so that the last sheet is then fed at the speed of the drier by the conveyer part 5. The movement of the sheets over the highest point of the conveyer parts with the sheet on one side or the other of the highest point of the conveyer on. the rollers 9 or 19 permits gravity to act on the sheets and has the effect of straightening the sheets and removing folds therefrom. The conveyer may have a portion 25, Fig. 5, which can be moved to the position shown dotted so that previously cut sheets 26 of veneer can be passed by the portion 25 to the conveyer 6 leading to the drier.